An Awkward Misunderstanding
by Aimee Hartford
Summary: A letter asking for advice, sent to a country newspaper by Donna's mom, has the potential to cause Donna great embarrassment at the office. One-shot; J/D ish; rated T to be safe.


**Category:** Humor/Romance**  
>Rating:<strong> Teen – just to be safe. There's no language or violence; just a reference.  
><strong>Timeline:<strong> Season 4, I guess. No major spoilers.  
><strong>Disclaimer: <strong>"Oh, if wishing made it so." But as Abbey found out, it doesn't. I don't own The West Wing, and I am not associated with it in any way or making money from it. Just enjoying!  
><strong>Author Notes:<strong> The idea for this story came to me when I was sitting in a fish and chip shop flicking through a disreputable paper and stumbled across the section where people had written in asking for advice and their letters were published. They were all about the same kind of thing, but one at the bottom caught my eye and was about someone sleeping with their boss. I'm not completely sure why, but Josh and Donna came to mind and on the spot I thought of writing this. It's just a one-shot and written for fun; it's not meant to be serious. Thanks to _preciola1213_ for reading and convincing me it was ready to be uploaded. Please review; just be a bit forgiving as it's my first fanfic! Enjoy!

It was Tuesday morning, and Donna was sitting at her desk reading yesterday's copy of a little-known country newspaper called the Lakes Country Courier which circulated in her home state of Wisconsin and also in Michigan, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio. Several months ago, her mom had first told her she ought to read it, and Donna had taken no heed. About two months ago, her mom had given up telling her. Yesterday Donna had seen the paper sitting on an untouched shelf with several other obscure newspapers and had decided to buy it.

At the moment, she was reading an article toward the middle of the paper about the phenomenal amount of produce sold by one dairy farm in the county where her parents lived. She finished the article and turned the page, to be confronted with what she called the 'help letters' section of the paper, which was entitled "Dear Dawn".

Donna read the brief introduction. It informed her in the most patronizing way possible that Dawn was thirty-five and from Milwaukee, and that her assistant Kelly was thirty-one and came from the countryside of Indiana.

Donna scanned the page for interesting letters and one at the bottom caught her attention: "Sleeping with her boss?"

It intrigued Donna that such a sleepy Midwest newspaper for farmers could have a reader who had such a New York-ish problem. She read the letter.

"Dear Dawn,

I have a concern about my daughter which has troubled me for some time now. She left home and now works in the center of corruption itself, Washington DC. I have since read rumors that she may be dating her boss, who certainly makes her work hard enough that she rarely comes home anymore. Apart from being her boss, he is also over ten years her senior and as a mother I would be uncomfortable with such an age difference for her. As I hardly ever see her face to face, I feel I cannot ask her about these rumors – but I am very concerned about it as I foresee this becoming an upsetting ordeal for her. And since when did high-powered men in DC have anything to gain from these relationships other than sex?"

Donna's mouth fell open. This letter was from some poor soul's _mother_, who was interfering shamelessly with her private life. Okay, so maybe the daughter was a bit hapless, and could do with the help from home. But if she was capable of surviving in DC, she could probably take care of herself and would be mortified to discover that her mother did not think so too. Donna glanced at the name – and gasped.

The letter was signed "Mrs. L. Moss, WI".

Many thoughts were racing around Donna's head, but she had forgotten how to breathe so she couldn't quite make sense of them. As soon as she remembered, and her head slowed down a little, she tried to think straight.

She knew there were lots of people called "L. Moss" but there were too many similarities for it not to be her mom. What if someone at the White House saw this? What if a reporter caught wind of it?

Donna tried not to think about the potential story, and realized that she was incredibly angry. First of all, her mother should have known better than to bring these things to the attention of a newspaper. Second of all, she should have spoken to Donna instead of the faceless "Dawn" of that newspaper. And third of all, she should have known better than to _believe_ all the tripe invented by idle reporters who had nothing else to do with their lives and devoted their time to stirring up as much trouble as possible! Donna took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down. She read the reply from Dawn.

"Sounds like you're a mother who wishes she was more in touch with her daughter! I think the best course of action would be to talk to your daughter; face to face is always preferable but if she has a busy city job then a phone call can work just fine. When you talk to her, make sure you aren't accusatory about what may just be rumors. Talk to her about it and treat her as an adult; she won't listen if you baby her. You have every right to be concerned and she should accept this."

Underneath, the "assistant" Kelly had added a sentence: "Remember that, even though mothers know best, your daughter needs to know you trust her to make her own decisions."

'_Leave me alone!'_ Donna thought, angrily. But before she could think any further, she heard the clearing of a throat as Josh appeared over her right shoulder. She moved faster than she had ever moved before to shut the paper before he could see anything more than the title. She turned around in her chair to face him.

'"Dear Dawn"?' he said, raising his eyebrows.

'What do you want?'

'Whoa, sorry. Uh, I need the memo on healthcare,' he said, eyeing the unpromising name of the newspaper. 'What's that for? Lakes Country Courier… That circulates in, like, the Midwest. East North Central,' he added, squinting at the smaller text in the top left-hand corner.

'Yeah. My mom takes it, and I've never read it,' replied Donna, without thinking. She shrugged innocently. 'Healthcare's on your desk; I thought I told you that.'

'It is not on my desk,' Josh insisted. Donna sighed. Although she was reluctant to let the newspaper out of her sight, she strode into Josh's office and pulled the memo out from under a pile. She handed it to Josh, who was standing in the doorway with a dumbfounded look on his face.

'How do you do that?' he muttered, and she grinned knowingly. She rolled her eyes when, instead of disappearing behind the closed office door like he usually did, he followed her back to her desk.

'So, who's Dawn?' he asked casually, leaning on her desk as she sat at the chair. She sighed pointedly.

'The woman who replies to readers' pleas for advice in my mom's preferred newspaper,' Donna answered, trying to sound patient but uninterested at the same time. She was not sure that it worked. Josh's face lit up.

'The advice section? What, where they reveal the exciting love lives of the citizens of Midwestern farmland areas?' he asked, chuckling. 'This I have to see.'

She could not say a word to stop him before he picked up the paper and flicked through it to find the page. She watched him searching and wondered how she was going to talk her way out of this one.

He had found the page.

'This woman is thirty-five and she's from Milwaukee,' Josh informed her, as if she hadn't read it. 'And her "assistant" is from Indiana. That is, from an Indianan farming county where, of course, _everybody_ has affairs,' he added sarcastically. His eyes scanned the page amusedly. '"Neighbor demanding profits". This woman says her neighbor agreed to lend her a piece of land that was in disuse at the end of his garden, because it was touching her garden anyway, but now that she's using it as an allotment he's demanding a share of what she earns selling her vegetables. "_We've always been friendly, so I don't know how I can say 'no' but the earnings are scarce and I need them._" That's ridiculous.'

'Yeah, I know,' Donna agreed seriously. 'I read that one,' she went on, even though she hadn't. 'Did they, uh, offer her any useful advice?'

But Josh shrugged absently; his eyes were roving around the page again and he was muttering the headings under his breath. '"Fallen for a womanizer"… that's never a good idea… "Separated by class"… right… "Sleeping with her boss?" What? That's a bit New York, isn't it?'

If she wasn't so distraught that he was looking at her mom's letter, Donna would have been amused that he, too, had thought it sounded like a New York issue.

'People don't sleep with their bosses in Wisconsin,' said Josh. 'Or Indiana or rural Michigan or wherever else…' He trailed off, reading the letter quickly. 'She evidently doesn't think –' he began. Then he stopped. Donna's brain went frantic again.

'Donna, what's your mom's name?' he asked slowly.

'Linda,' Donna answered, hoping she sounded unconcerned. Josh raised his eyebrows.

'And she takes this paper.'

'Yes…'

'Has she ever expressed concern about some of the speculative rumors circulating in this city about your love life?' he asked her suspiciously, a grin beginning to appear on his face.

'Well, not to me,' said Donna, evenly.

'Donna, is it possible that your mom is the "Mrs. L. Moss" from Wisconsin who wrote to the Lakes Country Courier to express concern about her daughter and her daughter's boss having a thing?' he asked her.

Donna knew she had two options here. She could either deny that this was her mom's letter, or laugh it off and say that her mom had obviously heard some rumors and panicked.

'Oh my God,' she said instead, putting her head in her hands.

'Is it?' He was definitely grinning now. Donna wanted to hit him with something hard, like a stapler or that heavy memo he was holding.

'I suppose you could say… Yeah. It's my mom,' she sighed eventually. She could feel her cheeks burning and continued, more to herself than to Josh, 'But… why, oh why, didn't she just ask…'

'Your mom thinks we're going out?' said Josh. 'I mean, I'm assuming that by "her boss" she means me, and not Leo or the President. That _would_ be cause for concern. They're both _even _older than _I_ am.'

'Oh, Josh,' moaned Donna, shaking her head in her hands and willing him to stop.

'She thinks we're going out.'

Donna sighed heavily. 'I don't know what she thinks, Josh. But –'

'I think the letter made it pretty clear,' said Josh, with a look on his face which told her he was being deliberately difficult and was enjoying it. Donna glared at him.

'I think she's caught wind of the DC rumors,' she said. 'She must… I don't know – she must've heard and gotten worried because I never mentioned them.'

'She doesn't think you can look after yourself?' teased Josh. Donna didn't answer, and he frowned slightly. 'Doesn't she?'

'I honestly don't know what she thinks, Josh. You can be sure I'll ask her.'

'Well,' said Josh, resuming his usual cocky manner. 'I can understand why she'd be worried that you wouldn't be able to resist a boss who's so handsome, intelligent and charming all at the same –'

'Shut up, Josh.'

'Right.' He did, but the look still on his face was bad enough. Donna groaned.

'Why don't you call her?' he suggested reasonably. 'Ask her. Although if by some weird chance it turns out it wasn't her, she might become suspicious after you talk to her. She'll think that you think she's _onto you_.'

'Shut up, Josh,' she said again.

He laughed. 'I'm going to leave you to call your mom,' he told her. 'Have fun.' He wandered back toward his office, memo in hand, looking immensely pleased with himself. Feeling irritated, Donna picked up the phone at her desk and dialed her home number. She waited as the phone beeped a few times, and then her mom picked up.

'Hello? Linda Moss speaking.' The home phone in Wisconsin was too antiquated to have Caller ID.

'Hi, Mom.'

'Donna! Sweetheart, how lovely to hear your voice! How are you? Aren't you at work?'

'I'm fine, Mom. And yeah, I'm at work. I just needed to ask you something,' said Donna hesitantly.

'Of course, dear. Go ahead; what did you need?'

'Yesterday I was on my way to work and I stopped and bought a copy of that paper you kept telling me to read,' Donna started. 'The Lakes Country Courier.' There was a pause.

'Okay…'

'And I stumbled across this page called "Dear Dawn". I'm sure you're familiar with it; it's the advice section,' said Donna, wondering if her mom would interrupt. 'There was a letter in there from an _L. Moss_… did you send it?'

She heard her mother exhale on the other end. 'Oh, Donna. Yes, I sent that letter. I saw yesterday afternoon that it had been printed. I didn't think you ever bought that paper.'

'This was the first time.'

'I'm sorry you had to hear that way… It hasn't caused you any trouble at work, has it?' She sounded suddenly anxious. 'They only sell it in the District of Columbia very occasionally as it is, I believe, and few people in the city read it. It's a country newspaper, dear. I didn't think it would be a problem. _Has_ it been a problem?'

'No, Mom, don't worry.' Donna bit her lip. 'I was just calling to talk – well, ask – about… the letter itself. I did read it, you know.'

'Yes, I gathered,' said her mom. 'I'm just so sorry you read it. I didn't mean to get at you like that. You know I wouldn't have written in if I thought there was any risk of you seeing it.'

'I know. It's fine, Mom.'

'I just wanted to talk to you about it… I've… I hear things through the grapevine, sometimes,' answered her mom. 'I don't know what to believe and I didn't want you to think I don't trust you.' She paused. '_Is_ it true? Are you –?'

'_No_,' Donna cut in quickly. Realizing she had probably sounded annoyed, she continued, 'No. Honestly, I know there are a lot of rumors but there isn't – we're not – no. Really, no.'

As she finished, she rotated her chair absent-mindedly and caught sight of Josh standing in his doorway listening to her conversation, with an amused expression on his face. Oh, she could kill him sometimes. She turned away from him again.

'Oh…' Her mom sounded doubtful. 'So, there never has been anything?'

'No.'

'Okay… I was just concerned because, well… You're young, and pretty… and blonde,' Linda went on. 'It's worrying for me when I hear rumors about you dating your boss because you've never mentioned any relationship of that kind or denied any rumors suggesting one. And, well… it never ends well when a boss is sleeping with his assistant and I was just worried it would be upsetting for you.'

'Well, thanks for caring, Mom, but I know how to take care of myself,' said Donna shortly. Then she thought of another point and voiced it before she could stop herself. 'And I'm sorry – have you never listened to _anything_ I've said about Josh? He doesn't date women just because they're _blonde_, anyway.' She had forgotten that he was listening. She had also lost her temper despite her previous efforts to remain calm.

'You're right, Donna. I'm sorry,' her mom apologized again. 'It's just easy to forget what you've said. I've never met the man… You get along, though, don't you? I know that much.'

'Yes, but not the way you think,' said Donna. 'We get along very well, but not that way, Mom. I know you don't believe me but it's true.'

'Alright, Donna. I was wrong, and I apologize,' Linda conceded.

'Okay. Thanks, Mom. Well, I have to get back to work, but I'll call you soon,' said Donna, in a more level voice to stop her mom feeling bad. 'I love you. And tell Dad I love him, too, won't you?'

'Of course, darling. Speak soon. I love you too,' Linda said. They said goodbye and Donna hung up just as Josh wandered over.

'So… she thinks we're going out?' he said promptly.

'Well, she _did_, and I'd like to say that I've successfully changed her mind and convinced her that we're not…'

'But?'

'I don't think she believed me,' Donna confessed. 'She definitely didn't at first.'

'It can't be helped, Donna. As I said before, seeing as I'm just so –' Before he could even start listing his own favorite personal qualities again, Donna whacked him on the arm with a file. 'Hey!'

'I heard you the first time; I really don't need you to repeat it,' Donna said, exasperated.

'Of course not. You already appreciate all my remarkable qualities, don't you?' Josh said casually.

'Sure.'

'You told her I don't go out with women just because they're blonde,' he remarked. Donna turned faintly pink.

'You were still listening at that point?'

'I heard everything,' said Josh, wearing a smirk as if he had overheard something extremely secret. Then his face softened. 'You said, "Have you never listened to anything I've ever said about Josh?"… What _do_ you say about me?'

Rolling her eyes, Donna answered smartly, 'Just that you're not as evil as they make you out to be on TV and not as heartless as the outrageous hours you keep me here would suggest.'

'Oh. Good.' He paused for a moment. 'Do you think I _am_ too old for you?'

She stared at him.

'I mean,' he continued, 'not just _you_. People who are the same age as you. Am I too old for all of them?'

'I…' Donna was taken aback by the question and wasn't sure what she thought herself. 'I don't know. I'm not sure it's my opinion that counts on this one.'

'But I'm asking you,' Josh protested. 'Okay, let's put it a different way… uh… Okay, hypothetically: would you date a guy who was ten or more years older than you?'

Trying not to think of Josh's first question regarding age difference, Donna answered thoughtfully, 'I suppose… Obviously, if I thought he was the right person… in theory, I might. It's not out of the question. But on the other hand it might be weird.'

'Yeah…' Josh was deep in thought. Then he shrugged, and smiled. 'Well, okay, thanks for your judgment.' He began to walk away, and then stopped and faced Donna again, a glint in his eye. 'Do I really make you work outrageous hours?'

'_Yes_,' said Donna emphatically. 'There will be no argument on that one. Yes, you do and yet you won't give me a raise.'

'Okay,' said Josh reasonably. He looked at her. 'I should take you out for dinner sometime. To say thank-you for working outrageous hours without a raise. I do appreciate it. We could even discuss the raise.' He grinned again. 'And we won't have to worry about it looking like a date, because I'm _too old_ for you anyway.'

'Did you listen to anything I just said?' Donna asked despairingly.

'Of course I did,' Josh assured her. 'But your mom has given me a whole new thing to irritate you with. I'm hardly just going to forget it.'

'No,' Donna agreed. As she watched him walk back to his office, she could not help smiling. She thought she might just thank her mom next time they spoke.


End file.
